Sustain Meaning
/səˈsteɪn/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo maintain, or keep in existence.
verbTo provide for or nourish.
Sentence Examples
The bridge couldn't sustain the force of the strong current and collapsed.
Heavy posts are needed to sustain this bridge.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because of the low crop yields, the small farm cannot ____ the family of five.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is difficult for a small business to ____ such a large financial loss without any help from the bank today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English susteinen, sustenen, from Old French sustenir (French soutenir), from Latin sustineō, sustinēre (“to uphold”), from sub- (“from below, up”) + teneō (“hold”, verb).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"All the beliefs, habits, tastes, emotions, mental attitudes that characterize our time are really designed to sustain the mystique of the Party and prevent the true nature of present-day society from being perceived."
— 1949 June 8, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 9, in Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC; republished [Australia]: Project Gutenberg of Australia, August 2001:
"Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Nehemiah 9:21:
"We rode five farsakhs today, sustained by a single bowl of curds and tortured by the wooden saddles."
— 1937, Robert Byron, The Road to Oxiana, London: Macmillan, Part 2, page 59:
"[…] if you omit
The offer of this time, I cannot promise
But that you shall sustain moe new disgraces,
With these you bear already."
— 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
"Shall Turnus then such endless Toil sustain,
In fighting Fields, and conquer Towns in vain:"
— 1697, Virgil, “The Seventh Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, lines 592-593:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Because of the low crop yields, the small farm cannot ____ the family of five.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
It is difficult for a small business to ____ such a large financial loss without any help from the bank today.